The Bull Prince | Max Verstappen

SEQUEL - Chapter 20

I feel terrible as of lately, therefore the late updates and the bad writing. I don't know if I will keep writing at all so enjoy the chapter. Cheers!

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Tightening his hold around his Red Bull, Max watched warily as they put even more makeup on Pierre's face. They were backstage, getting ready for an onstage interview with questions from the fans afterwards and Max couldn't hate it anymore. He was never a fan of all the attention they got, in his opinion, he was a normal guy, after all, doing an extraordinary job, but for him, that was no reason to tattoo his face on body parts or follow him around the world to see him race, there was a reason why they filmed the whole thing after all.

Of course, he was thankful for his fans and that they supported him without a second thought, but Max still felt uncomfortable with all the attention. He was scared of how easily crowds turned against singled out people. The young Red Bull driver didn't like the power all these fans suddenly gave him or how the media liked to use that to target people. It had happened with Ocon, yes Max had been pissed at him, but he had forgotten about it until the next race but that didn't change the fact that most of his fans still hated Esteban. That was the power of being popular like them, one wrong word about someone and even if it was just a joke, Max suddenly held the power to destroy lives and he never wanted that.

Dan once told Max he wanted people to fear how much they loved him, Max couldn't think of something worse. He hated the power his words suddenly held, that one movement of his face could cancel someone. It was just unfair. He didn't want all these people to just copy his opinion, he wanted to be a normal guy, not an object of obsession but his popularity played into Red Bull's cards. They liked to use him as a sort of figurehead, which is why Max believed that it was also so very hard for Pierre to get a foot into the door.

No matter what he said, no matter what he did people always interpreted it wrongly. Max had nothing against Pierre, no, he even liked the Frenchman, but his fans didn't and that was a problem, but one Max couldn't seem to find a solution for. If he reached out to offer Pierre his hand in friendship, people said he was forced to do so, if he's just watching, the fans say Max doesn't care about his teammate but he's also sure, should he ever actively show that he doesn't want Pierre as his teammate people would lose it as well, so the Dutchman didn't know what to do. He would love to ask Joanna about it, but that wasn't really an option right now.

"How is it?" Pierre asked Max as he finally stepped up to his teammate, causing Max to look over at him confused. His hold on the Red Bull tightened as if the pressure he was giving the can was stopping him from running away.

"Facing them, at the Red Bull Ring, I mean." The Frenchman clarified, which caused Max to face straight ahead for a moment.

"Must be different, right?" Pierre muttered to himself, thinking that he won't get an answer from Max, but the Dutchman wasn't that much of an asshole, he actually was a very decent guy and he understood Pierre's worry. He still remembered the first time he had to get up on this stage.

Daniel was by his side, joking that they were only there to see him after all and that all Max was there for was making Dan look better. Back then he couldn't stop laughing, the Aussie made sure he wasn't feeling unwell on stage, and it felt as if all these people weren't even there. It was as if he was out with his mate until Joanna stepped onto the stage. As an Austrian, she couldn't miss such an event, but that was also the first time Max actually saw the effect Joanna Lauda had on a crowd. He watched all these people cheering for her, but as soon as she lifted the microphone to her lips, they all fell into silence. Joanna held their full attention.

"It's like a religion to them sometimes, I think," Max said which caused the Frenchman to lift his gaze from his shoes, to face Max but the Dutchman was stuck in a memory from a long-lost time.